Matador Mining starts new quarter with cash for Malachite exploration
Matador Mining has announced new high-grade gold hits outside of its existing mineral resource in Newfoundland, Canada.
Gold explorer Matador Mining (ASX: MZZ) has kicked off the new quarter with $5 million in gross proceeds from a capital raising intended to advance its exploration program in Newfoundland, Canada.
The company today released its June quarterly report, highlighting the 17 high-tenor gold grain anomalies it identified from till sampling at the Malachite target area within its Cape Ray project.
Based on these findings, Malachite has been prioritised for further work with field crews dispatched in June to undertake surface and power-auger basement core sampling of the area to identify a potential basement gold source of the high tenor anomaly for follow-up diamond drilling.
Matador said the proceeds from its recent placement and share purchase plan will be used for exploration focused on drill target generation in the Malachite area and additional high-priority targets including Bunker Hill, Grandy’s and Hermitage.
The company will also commence the inaugural diamond core drilling program on Malachite targets with the remainder of the raised funds being used for general corporate working capital purposes.
Capital raising included some of Matador’s largest shareholders
Subsequent to the end of the June quarter, the company issued almost 41 million shares through three tranches of investment: hard dollar, flow-through and a private placement.
The hard dollar placement yielded gross proceeds of $2 million at a share price of $0.115 each, representing an 18.8% discount to the five-day volume weighted average price (VWAP).
A flow-through placement then generated $2.5 million at $0.13 per share, a 13% premium to the offer price.
Following this, one of Matador’s largest shareholders which was unable to participate in the initial capital raise due to time limitations chose to invest $500,000 at the offer price for an additional 4.31 million shares, bringing gross proceeds to a total of $5 million.
Members of the board have also indicated their intention to subscribe for a total of 1.83 million shares. This is expected to be approved by shareholders at the company’s next annual general meeting planned for later in the year.
In conjunction with the raising, Matador has offered eligible shareholders with registered addresses in Australia and New Zealand to participate in a share purchase plan up to the value of $1 million at $0.115 per share. The closing date of this offer is set at 12 August.
Expanded land position in Newfoundland
Other highlights of the quarter included the expansion of the company’s tenement package in Newfoundland with 62 square kilometres of new claims staked immediately adjacent to existing Matador ground. This has increased the company’s overall landholding by 6% to a total of 1,033sq km.
Board changes
The company also made changes to its board at the start of May, including Sam Pazuki beginning his tenure as chief executive officer and being appointed managing director. Mr Pazuki is a professional engineer based in Toronto and has spent the last 10 years working for multinational mid-tier producer OceanaGold (ASX: OGC).
Meanwhile, Ian Murray’s chairman position became non-executive, and non-executive director Mick Wilkes retired from the board to pursue “new opportunities”.
At the end of June, Matador confirmed a cash balance of approximately $3.1 million. This excludes the net proceeds associated with the subsequent capital raising.